Corinthians non ha giocato bene a tutti, non vale più la parità!

For the sixth consecutive season, Real Madrid failed to progress past the first round of the knockout stages. Even a €250 million investment was not enough for Florentino Perez’s neo-Galacticos to get what has become more of a gorilla rather than a monkey off their backs.

The match began with the Bernabeu faithful in an optimistic mood. After Los Blancos’ epic comeback against Sevilla, many Madridistas were expecting their team to impose their tradition of beautiful football upon bogey side Lyon. “We will win by 3-0”, declared Sergio Ramos in comments reported by Marca earlier in the week. Bold statements, indeed, but in the opening minutes it certainly looked like Ramos' brazen, cocky prediction would come true.

Madrid began the match by playing strong passing football, creating their first chance through Gonzalo Higuain in the first minute, only to have Lyon’s goalkeeper Hugo Lloris clear the danger. But with the support of the crowd, Los Blancos would not be denied. In just the sixth minute of play, Cristiano Ronaldo surged forward down the left flank and slotted the ball between Lloris’ legs, a goalkeeper who had previously not conceded for 626 consecutive minutes. 1-0 and all level on aggregate. Game on.
Tasting blood, Madrid continued to surge forward, wreaking havoc on a bewildered Lyon defence. Far and away the stronger side, Los Blancos began to push forward with most chances coming through Ronaldo and Higuain. But it was the Argentine who had the opportunity to break the match wide open.

Receiving a pass through the back line in the 26th minute, 'Pipita' burst forward with the ball at his feet with just the goalkeeper to beat. In a move that was eerily similar to the way he rounded Germany 'keeper Rene Adler in an international friendly last week with Argentina, Higuain breezed past Lloris. Slotting the ball toward the empty net with his right foot, the striker began to jog toward the sideline, anticipating the wave of glory as the crowd began to scream, “Goooooooooooooo—”.

In what would become a curious metaphor for Real Madrid’s inability to progress past the last-16 in what now seems like a century, the ball astonishingly thudded off the post. Madrid would continue to create a host of chances throughout the first half, but it was at that moment that the first seeds of doubt began to take root and the confidence began to wane. Had the ball nestled into the goal, the Bernabeu would have exploded into a roar of jubilation and the 'Men in White' could have gone on a romp. And perhaps the story would be far different than it is now.

Higuain almost made amends just two minutes later as Kaka delicately cut inside Cris on the left flank. The ball fell to the Argentine’s boots with just Lloris and the net at his mercy, but again the shot was unable to find its way past the 'keeper. The youngster would be afforded one more clear-cut chance, but his header would glance inches wide. A deadly goalscorer in La Liga, Higuain has had to learn the hard way that if one does not put away the few chances one is afforded in the Champions League, the match can easily get away.

And get away it did. With the wasted chances of the first half behind them, Madrid looked wary in the second period. Able to impose much more physical play upon the proceedings, Lyon were quick to capitalise and play football the way they like to - the way they did in the first leg.

Frustration began to take hold and Madrid lost their team dynamic, performing like a group of individuals rather than a collective unit. For those with the eye to catch the events that preceded Lyon’s goal as five French players surged forward to score, Kaka threw his arms up in frustration as the referee waved play on instead of blowing for the foul. It is nothing but that feeling of frustration that Madrid are left with now.

As for Higuain, he must now be wondering what would have been.
After being eliminated from the Champions League by Lyon in what was Real Madrid's sixth consecutive exit in the first round of the knockout stage, coach Manuel Pellegrini declared that he had failed but that he was not going to resign as coach.

In comments reported by Marca, Pellegrini declared that the project he hopes to head in the Spanish capital is "greater than six months". The Chilean also responded with a definitive reply with respect to the future of his job.

"I am not going to resign. It is a difficult loss to take, but I will not leave. One will have to ask the directors about that [his future at the club].

"We would like to have won everything this year, but now we find ourselves out of two competitions, even though we are leaders in La Liga. The first person responsible for an elimination is the coach, but we need to turn the page and win La Liga like [Fabio] Capello and [Bernd] Schuster did. It was everyone's hope that we would be in the final, and the elimination is that much more painful for that reason."

Avoiding an analysis of the defeat, Pellegrini denied that the cause was a lack of ability in the Spanish game.

"There will be a time for a lot of analysis, but the reality is that we have been eliminated after a first half in which we could have finished off the match. There will be a lot of discussion about what happened in the second half."

'El Ingeniero' also did not want to analyse the squad, but acknowledged that Guti was "not at his best for the entirety of the match" and that "little by little we tried to score as individuals, not as a collective unit as we did in the first half when we enjoyed a number of chances and could have scored a number of goals."

Finally, Pellegrini commented on Guti's earlier statements when the midfielder blamed the second half impotence on too much individualism on the part of the players.

"I believe we played a very good match in the first half in every aspect. In the second half we did act more as individuals. Between the pressure and the lack of continuity in our passing, we erroneously looked for another route."
It was a difficult task even before kick off as Milan had to score at least twice at Old Trafford. Their challenge became nigh-on impossible when Alexandre Pato and Alessandro Nesta were forced to sit on the sidelines through injury, but their absences cannot excuse the lack of imagination or inspiration on show at the Theatre of Dreams.

Leonardo's side are advocates of playing free-flowing, attacking football but even in Serie A, the system leaves them vulnerable at the back. Thiago Silva's displays without the calming presence of Alessandro Nesta are often not representative of his true standard, but the Brazilian was the more composed of the two centre-backs tonight. The ease with which Wayne Rooney beat Daniele Bonera in the air to score the first goal was demonstrative of the reliance that Milan have on Nesta.

Meanwhile on the flanks, the atrocious Ignazio Abate was beaten time after time by Nani, while Marek Jankulovski fared little better against either Antonio Valencia or Gary Neville. The Czech must also take responsibility for the first goal as he failed to close down Neville, while there were several occasions on which Abate simply allowed Nani to cut inside without even attempting a challenge.

Abate is no defender - and had Gianluca Zambrotta been match fit then he would not have needed to fill in at full-back - but clearly these positions need to be addressed in the summer. Had Leonardo had another option to play at right-back, Abate could have been utilised further forward in Pato's position. The youngster is obviously far more comfortable playing in an attacking role, while his pace and delivery could have given Patrice Evra more of a problem.

Instead, the lack of incision from the front three was staggering - Marco Borriello looked as immobile as he had for Italy against Cameroon, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar failed to take a gilt-edged opportunity in the first half and Ronaldinho's passes often failed to find their intended target.
David Beckham's introduction - which received a great reaction from the home fans - gave Milan a far better option on the right hand side, with the Englishman putting in several dangerous crosses, but it was too little, too late from Leonardo.

In the end, it was far too easy for Manchester United to overcome the Rossoneri for the first time ever over two legs of a European tie. Milan's forward line failed to help out their overrun midfield, while the full-backs' limited qualities were exposed for the entire 90 minutes. Sir Alex Ferguson's side were able to contain the Rossoneri with consummate ease after scoring an early goal to heap the pressure on the Italians, while Rooney settled matters with his second goal less than a minute into the second half.

From thereon, it was a matter of how many the hosts wanted to score. Edwin van der Sar was only rarely tested with shots from range - Andrea Pirlo, Mathieu Flamini and Beckham all tried their luck - and in the second half, an uninformed spectator could have been forgiven for thinking that it was Manchester United who were 4-2 down on aggregate.

Unfortunately for president Silvio Berlusconi, Leonardo and Italian football fans hoping that Serie A can cling onto its fourth Champions League spot, Milan's flaws, particularly in their lack of squad depth, were all on display against Ferguson's side. Manchester United can look forward to a quarter-final against one of Europe's elite, but while Milan's challenge of overturning the first leg deficit was almost inevitably doomed to failure, the manner of the defeat will leave a sour taste in the mouths of the Rossoneri.